Pershing Square

Pershing Square is a public park in Downtown Los Angeles, one square block in size. In 1866, Mayor Cristobal Aguilar declared La Plaza Abaja to be a public square, and the park was renamed to Los Angeles Park in 1870, to 6th Street Park in 1886, to Central Park in the early 1890s, and to Pershing Square in November 1918. The square's current name is in honor of General John J. Pershing, having been renamed a week after the 11 November 1918 armistice with the German Empire that ended World War I. After World War II, the park began to decline as commercial decentralization and suburbanization took greater hold in the Greater Los Angeles area, and the entire park was demolished and excavated in 1952 to build a three-level underground parking garage. However, soil and grass were placed on top of the garage, and fountains were installed. In 1984, the eyesore of a park was renovated after the 1984 Summer Olympics, and the redesigned park opened in 1994 with a 10-story purple bell tower and fountains.